Bloodied Notes
by JunseiIX
Summary: As a mysterious murderer begins killing off the smashers, it is up to Marth and his friends to stop it. Their only clue: bloodied notes the killer leaves behind. Rated T for blood and scenes in later chapters.
1. It all started as a normal day

**A/N: Yo! You're probably thinking: Uhoh, another murder type story involving the Smash Bros. cast! yeah. I know. But these types of stories are just so much fun to write, I can't help it. Oh wells. Hope you enjoy it:D **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Super Smash Brothers or any of the characters.**

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It all began as just a normal day like any other. Aside from the light rain outside, the morning was fairly quiet as always in the smash mansion.

It was currently 8:34am as Marth walked down the long hallway from his room. He greeted other smashers as he passed them with a simple "Hello." or "Good morning!", he was in a good mood this morning, surprisingly. He descended the stairs into the lobby, and stopped when he saw Young Link and Ness pouting as they looked out the window. He walked over and stood beside them, though neither one of them glanced in his direction.

"What are you two moping around about? Shouldn't you be in the cafeteria for breakfast?" He asked, and Ness sighed and looked up at him.

"It's raining outside.. Young Link and I wanted to play baseball today!"

"Hmm. Well, maybe the rain will let up soon and you can go outside?" He suggested, Ness only shook his head.

"Probably not. The weather said we were supposed to get rain all day today." He sighed and hit the tip of his baseball bat on the ground.

"That's too bad. You could always use the gym, though right?"

"It wouldn't be the same." This time Young Link answered, sadness evident in his voice.

"Alright, look," he sighed, "let's just go get breakfast. After that we can see if the rain let up any, and if it did i'll play a game or two with you guys. Sound good?" Ness' and Young Link's heads shot up and smiled at Marth. That cheered them up.

"Really?! You would play with us?" Young Link asked, he was excited now.

"Sure." Marth smiled at the young boys. Honestly, he was horrible at baseball, so he had no idea why he offered to play with them anyways. At least it cheered them up.

"Great!" Ness and Y. Link (im just going to call him Y. Link from here on), now in good spirits, raced each other to the cafeteria which was just around the corner from the lobby. Marth took another glance outside before eventually following them.

As he entered the cafeteria he noticed that pretty much all of the smashers were already seated and having their breakfast. Some were already finished, and just hanging around chatting with their friends about how the weather was outside, or talking about an upcoming tournament. Roy and Link spotted Marth and they waved and called him over to their table in the middle of the cafeteria.

"Where have you been? It's not like you to be late for breakfast! What's even more shocking is that Roy was actually here before you." Link said as the blue haired swordsman seated himself at their table.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roy asked before taking another bite of his cereal and glaring at Link.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." He laughed, and earned another glare from Roy all the while. Marth joined in on the laughter eventually.

"Sorry. Guess I slept in a bit."

"A bit? You're 30 minutes later than usual!" Link added, taking another bite of his bagel, and tossing one to Marth in the process. Marth fumbled a little, but caught the bagel before it hit the floor. "Nice catch."

"Thanks."

"So, I hear Master Hand is on vacation for a little while." Roy spoke up, and Marth raised an eyebrow.

"Vacation? Where did he go?"

"Not entirely sure. He said something about.. err.. Florinda?"

"You mean Florida, Roy." Link sighed.

"Yeah, that."

"Ah. Well, it's good for him to take vacations every now and then I guess. He needs time off, I mean, have you seen him lately? That guy is like a walking bomb, exploding every time you talk to him." Marth laughed.

"Which is why it's fun to talk to him." Roy joined in on the laughter, as did Link.

"Yo guys, what's going on?" A curious voice to the right of them asked.

The trio looked up at the new speaker, and saw Fox standing beside their table with a grin on his face.

"Heya Fox. Just chatting as usual. What's up?" Roy asked.

"Not much. Just saw you guys laughing like hooligans over here and figured I would stop by and say hi before I go for target practice." He pulled out his blaster and twirled it with his fingers, before jamming it back into his holster.

"Marth made a joke, is all. Which is kinda weird, he never makes jokes... that are funny, at least." Link's statement made Roy laugh again, but Marth only rolled his eyes.

"Very funny." Marth finished up his bagel and stood up.

"Where ya going?" Roy asked.

"Well, im going to go play some baseball with Ness and Link." He stated, earning concerned glances from his friends. "What?"

"You feeling alright? First you make a joke and then you want to play baseball?" Link reached his hand up to Marth's forehead to see if he had a fever, but he quickly swatted the hand away.

"Im perfectly fine, honest. Now, if you will excuse me." Marth excused himself from the table and headed into the lobby, leaving behind a very confused Link, and a laughing Fox and Roy.

Marth sighed as he sat down on the couch in the lobby and waited for Ness and Y. Link to finish their breakfast. He glanced out the window and noticed that the rain had let up, if only a little bit; but the weather looked good enough to play baseball. Ness and Y. Link are going to be happy.

It was another 30 minutes before Ness and Y. Link emerged from the cafeteria. Marth was on the verge of falling asleep on the couch when they entered the room, sadly, it didn't look like he was going to get a nap in before baseball. Not that he minded, it was rare for him to take naps during the day anyways. It made him feel weird if he did.

"Marth! Ready for some baseball?" Ness asked, slinging the baseball bat over his shoulder. Y. Link carried a bag on his back, which most likely contained more baseball bats, baseballs, and mits.

"Yeah. Let's go." He yawned and stood up from the couch, following the children through the front door and out into the grassy fields. They were really happy when they saw the rain had let up, and they broke out into a run towards the playing field beside the mansion. Marth ran after them, but after concluding that they were very fast at their age, slowed down to a jog.

When they reached the field, Marth was panting from running such a long distance. The playing field was also rather big, so this was going to be a fun day for him. He noticed that the Ice Climbers, and for some reason, Mewtwo were also out on the field waiting for them. What was even stranger, was that Mewtwo wore a deep blue baseball cap on his head, but still adorned his always serious look.

"Oh yeah! Mewtwo and the Ice Climbers will be playing with us, okay Marth?" Ness asked, and Marth just nodded, continuing to give strange glances at Mewtwo.

"Yes. I hope that is no problem. I figured I should... try something different." Mewtwo said, floating over just behind first base, and getting a baseball mit from the accessories bag.

"That's, erm, new." Marth was still finding it hard to believe Mewtwo would play baseball out of his own free will. He didn't picture Mewtwo as much of a socializing guy, or a sports guy for that matter, but he quickly shrugged it off as Ness began to speak.

"Okay! The teams are: Me, Marth, and Popo. And Young Link, Mewtwo, and Nana on the other team! Our team will bat first." Ness shouted, and everyone took their places on the field. Much to Marth's dismay, he was first to bat. He gulped and grabbed a baseball bat, taking his stance next to the plate. Y. Link was pitcher, Mewtwo was catcher, and Nana stood in the field ready to catch any ball that came her way.

"Ready?" Y. Link called, but without waiting for a response, tossed the ball with as much strength as he could muster. Marth watched the ball carefully, and swung when it got near him.

Strike one!

He sighed. He knew that trying baseball was a bad idea.

Y. Link readied the second pitch. He grinned and brought his arm back, before throwin the ball. Surprisingly, it was faster than the last ball he threw and Marth once again missed, making him sigh once more.

"Come on! What are you doing, Marth! You're supposed to hit the ball, not miss it!" Ness shouted at him from the bleachers, which were positioned just behind first base a little ways.

"You're supposed to hit the ball, not miss it... blah blah.. is if I didn't know that." Marth muttered to himself as Y. Link got ready for the third pitch. However, just before Y. Link threw the ball, a high pitched shriek came from inside the mansion. It caught everyone in the field off guard, causing Marth to almost jump out of his skin and others to jump a few feet in the air. Mewtwo looked as calm as ever, though.

"What in the world.. that sounded like Peach!" Marth was now worried. He dropped his bat and sprinted towards the mansion as fast as possible, the others right behind him. Mewtwo simply teleported to the front door of the mansion, the cheater. They entered the mansion, only to see Peach curled up on the couch, eyes widened in horror, and small streams of tears flowing down her face. In her hand, she clutched a note, which was crumpled quite a bit. The other smashers stood beside her, some more concerned than others, Samus and Zelda were desperately trying to comfort her.

"What happened? We heard a scream." Marth panted, trying to catch his breath from the long distance they just sprinted.

"It's.. Mario.." Zelda's voice was full of sadness, as she pried the note out of Peach's hands and walked over, handing it to Marth, whom read it out loud.

_"Hee-Hee!_

_If you're reading this, your precious Mario is long gone now! I must say, he put up a great struggle, but failed in the end! Never fear though, you will all soon be joining him._

_Hee-Hee! Hee-Hee! _

_Only twenty four remain, oh dear me, who will I choose to be my next victim?"_

At the end of the note was a few splotches of blood, and one of, what looked like, Mario's hairs. Marth shakily let the note fall to the floor and looked over to Peach, who was sobbing even louder now. The whole room grew silent, aside from Peach's loud sobbing.

"No body was found, or anything for that matter. However, many things in his room have been broken, and there was blood on the walls and carpet." Samus sighed, still trying to comfort Peach.

"What do we do..?" Marth asked, and everyone blinked. They hadn't thought of this yet.

"Well, we haven't gotten that far yet." Zelda said, going back to comforting Peach, who was still sobbing.

"If we don't do something soon, though.." Roy spoke up, "we're all probably going to die."

The whole room once again turned silent. Many smashers had feared looks on their faces as they exchanged glances with each other. They didn't want to admit it, but.. Roy was right.

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**A/N: End of chapter 1. Hope you guys like it so far. It's a short first chapter, I know. It... looked alot longer on my other computer.. D: And sorry for killing Mario off on the first chapter... but someone had to be the first victim..**

**Man, these types of stories are so much fun to write, right? Lolol. Write right.**

**Marth: -sigh-**

**Err... right. Anyways. Review! Reviews make me a happy person, and when im a happy person..**

**Marth: She writes more chapters.**

**Correct-o! **


	2. New questions arise

**A/N: Not a long author note this time, so i'll get straight to the point: Chapter 2 update! Huzzah!**

**Review responses:**

_**Gooey: **_**1. Woah, good catch there! I didn't notice that until you pointed it out, lol. 2. Ah, yeah, your right. I probably should have.**

**Only melee characters are included right now. I might find a way to wedge the Brawl characters into the story later, somehow.**

_**Jeo the Fire God: **_**Yack! -duck and cover- don't let them eat me, if they eat me, I would most likely be dead, then this will never get updated.. ever again.. D: -tosses update- **

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The rest of the day went by slowly, but rather silently. Most of the smashers had retired to their rooms for the evening, Marth, however, sat on the couch in the lounge. He read the small post it note over and over again, still unsure of what to do about the situation at hand. A killer was on the loose, he knew that much, but what could they do to stop him? He sighed. It couldn't be any of them, could it? Mario was loved by almost all of the smashers, aside from Bowser, but Bowser hated pretty much everybody.

"Which would give him a reason to kill..." Marth whispered to himself, but shook his head. Sure, Bowser was good enough to be a prime suspect, but the writing on this note was way too neat and elegant to be the handwriting of the koopa king.

"What are you doing?" The sudden voice made Marth jump, and turn quickly, but only to see Roy giving him a weird look from the back of the couch. "You okay?"

"Yeah.. im fine. Just thinking about what happened today, is all." Roy sighed and jumped over the back of the couch, and seating himself next to Marth.

"You haven't let go of that note since Zelda gave it to you, you need to stop worrying so much. After all, worrying doesn't help anything, now does it?" Roy had a good point.

"I know that. It's just, I mean, who in the world would hate Mario so much they would murder the man?"

"Bowser?"

"That's what I thought as well, but look at this writing," he handed the note to Roy, "it looks too neat to be Bowser's."

"Yeah, I guess. Bowser never could write all that well with those big claws of his." He laughed.

"All jokes aside, who do you think it could be?" This made the red head think for a minute before answering.

"Can't really say, actually. I've yet to really give it alot of thought. But I will say this, whoever it is, is probably pretty clever and spying on us right now." Marth's eyes widened a little as he said this.

"Right.. now..?" He gulped, and Roy laughed.

"Relax. Im just joking. Yeesh, you're easier to scare than Link." Marth glared at him and went back to thinking.

He was just about to go into deep thought, when he was yet again interrupted. Pikachu came speeding in from the cafeteria, an angry Kirby following right behind him. Pikachu jumped up into Marth's lap and shielded his eyes with his little paws.

"Pikachu! Kirby! What in the world are you two doing?"

"That rat stole the last piece of chocolate cake! MY chocolate cake!" Kirby was fuming, and Marth was rather shocked someone could get so upset over something so small.

"Honestly Kirby, it isn't that big of a deal, why not just have Peach or Zelda make another one? Im sure they would love too." Marth suggested, making Kirby calm down slightly and raise an eyebrow.

"Have you not been paying attention all day? Peach is having a mental breakdown, and Zelda is busy trying to keep her under control. I don't think they will be baking cakes for a long time." He spat, making Marth blink a few times.

"Right.. sorry, I forgot."

"Whatever. That little rat will pay one of these days, just you wait.." Kirby turned and headed up the stairs to his room, leaving behind a shocked Marth and Roy, and a quivering Pikachu.

"It's alright Pikachu, he's gone." The little mouse took a paw off one of his eyes and looked around the room, before letting out a small sigh and hopping off Marth's lap and onto the ground again. Pikachu muttered a soft 'Thank you' before scurrying back into the cafeteria.

"It's official. Kirby is the murderer! Did you see the way he got angry like that?" Roy spoke up, and Marth hit him upside the head.

"Kirby couldn't be the murderer, and besides, he can barely even pick up a pencil." Something was bothering Kirby, though. He usually never got angry and attacked people like that..

"Y'know, there are these nifty little things called 'Typewriters' and 'Computers'. He could have used one of those." Marth hit him again.

"For one thing, this is handwritten, as in _pencil _written. As for the typewritter, refer to what I just said." Marth stated, and Roy rolled his eyes.

"You never know." He simply shrugged and stood up. "Anyways, im going to head out to get a bit of fresh air for a bit. I might practice with my sword for a while too. Wanna come?" He offered, but Marth shook his head.

"No thanks. I don't really think I could practice with so many things on my mind. Thanks though, maybe some other time."

"Alright. Later." With a wave, Roy headed out the door, leaving Marth once again alone in the room.

Marth sighed and was about to go back to thinking about the murderer, when he realized that he no longer had the note. He remembered handing it to Roy, but he never gave it back.

"Crud! Roy! Hold up!" He shouted as he stood up from the couch and ran out the door. At first, when he walked outside, he saw nothing. The sun had already gone down, and the only light visible was that of the small porch light they turned on every evening. But other than that, he only saw darkness and the trees that surrounded most of the mansion. He ran off towards the field where he had played baseball at earlier, careful not to trip over unseen rocks, or holes.

After a few moments of running, he made it to the large field, but saw no sign of his friend anywhere. Suddenly, he heard a shout come from his right, and headed towards the source of the sound. When he got close enough, he could make out two figures in the distance, one looked to be Roy, and another was a figure he couldn't distinguish. He could easily tell them apart, as Roy's sword was lit up with flames, and the unknown figure was using a small dagger as its weapon.

"This can't be good.." He muttered to himself, and rushed to help his friend fight off the attacker. He drew his sword, but was noticed by the figure when he got near. The figure jumped back away from the two and stood eyeing them for a few moments.

"What are you doing here? I was kicking his butt!" Roy said as Marth stood beside him.

"Kicking his butt, huh? Then what's that large gash on your arm?" He pointed out.

"It's nothing, just a cut, that's all." It was actually more than a cut, as it was bleeding pretty heavily, however Roy just shrugged it off.

The attacker didn't allow them to continue on with their conversation, as he charged at them yet again, however he was more focused on Roy than Marth. Roy blocked his blows with his sword, and attacked at any opening he found, but the attacker dodged his attacks easily. With a yell, Roy raised his sword and brought it down on the figure, but he raised his dagger up in time to block the fierce attack. Marth saw this as a perfect chance to help, and he thrusted his sword straight into the attacker's chest. Roy backed off as the attacker dropped his dagger to the ground, and fell down along with it. Marth slowly pulled his sword back out of the figure's chest, but strangely, it wasn't covered in blood, but more of a black liquid.

"What in the world.." He whispered as he looked at the unknown liquid that covered his sword. He glanced at the figure on the ground, but before he got a chance to see the identity of the attacker, they vanished in a large puff black smoke. Marth coughed and waved his hand in front of his face, in an attempt to clear away some of the smoke so he could see. It didn't take too long for the smoke to clear, but when he looked at the ground once again, the figure was nowhere to be seen.

"Alright, now that's just weird." Roy said, as he walked up to Marth. He was still holding his hand up to his right arm, in an attempt to stop some of the bleeding.

"Yeah, but we can talk about that later, right now we need to get you to Dr. Mario to get that wound taken care of." Roy rolled his eyes.

"Im fine, really. But whatever makes you happy." They walked off towards the mansion, and it was only after the fight did Marth notice that it had started to rain again. The rain was starting to fall pretty hard by the time they were finally inside the mansion, and both of them were a bit wet from being out in it for so long. Walking through the lounge, the rounded the corner and headed towards Dr. Mario's office.

Dr. Mario's office was located to the left of the lounge, and down a hallway. Master Hand saw the need to make his office exactly like a hospital room, as Dr. Mario originially worked as a doctor in a hospital before he came to the smash mansion. Though Dr. Mario wasnt seen much around the mansion, he could always be found right in his office either treating a patient, or examining medicines. Peach would sometimes help him too, but that was usually only for serious wounds.

"Dr. Mario! Are you in?" Marth knocked on the wooden door, and shortly after he heard the clicks of Dr. Mario's shoes as they walked across the hard floor.

"Yes? Who-a is it?" Dr. Mario asked, as he opened the door. "Ah! Marth! Good to-a see you. What brings you to-a my office tonight-a?" Marth didn't need to answer that question, as the doctor had already gotten a glimpse of Roy and the red liquid that was running down his arm. He hurried them both into his office, making Roy sit down on one of the beds as he examined his cut. Marth sat down in a small chair beside the bed and watched the doctor get to work.

"Nothing serious, right doctor?" Roy asked as Dr. Mario was examining the wound.

"No. It's-a rather deep though-a. I should be able to-a patch it up." He looked over to Marth, and motioned for him to follow. Marth did so, and followed the doctor to the other side of the room where he kept all of his medicines stored in cabinets, and drawers. After searching through a few cabinets, he pulled out what looked to be a liquid medicine, and a few large white bandages. He handed these items to the swordsman, and they made their way back over to Roy, who was looking rather bored on the bed.

"Hand me-a the medicine please, Marth." The doctor ordered as he put on his white gloves and took out a few cottonballs from his coat pocket. He dabbed some of the liquid onto a cottonball and applied it onto the wound. Roy flinched a little, but did nothing else as the medicine was applied. When the doctor finished, he washed the somewhat dried blood off of the arm with a washcloth, before taking the bandage from Marth and wrapping it around the wound.

"There! All-a done." Dr. Mario looked pleased with his work, and the two thanked him before exiting his office and heading back into the lounge.

"What was that thing, do you think? It just came out of nowhere and attacked me when I began training." Roy stated as they sat down onto the couch once again.

"I don't know. I couldn't get a look at the face. But from the way it moved, it wasn't... human. It dodged your attacks with such ease, it was amazing. I was lucky I came out after you, otherwise you probably wouldn't have walked away with only a cut on your arm."

"Yeah, yeah.. I hear you. I could have handled him though." Roy huffed. "Why did you come out there, anyways?"

"Oh! Right! You didn't give me the note back. I was going to read over it again, but, well that's kinda hard to do when you don't have it to look at, now isnt it?" Marth chuckled as Roy reached into his pocket and pulled out the note.

"Yeah, you've already read it about five hundred times." Roy rolled his eyes, and tossed the crumpled piece of paper to his friend sitting next to him.

"Very funny." He rolled his eyes as he took the note. "It was strange, actually. When I stabbed that.. thing, there was no blood on my sword, only this strange black liquid."

"Black liquid? Is it still on your sword now?" At this, Marth stood up and unsheathed his sword, only to find it perfectly clean and not a trace of the liquid anywhere on it. "I don't see anything.."

"What? It was on there a little bit ago! Right after I stabbed it!" He frantically searched the inside of his sheath, only to find absolutely nothing.

Roy stood up from the couch and yawned. "Uhuh. Sure. Anyways, im beat, im heading to bed. Night." He walked up the stairs and headed for his room, leaving a shocked Marth alone in the lounge.

"It was there, though.. I know it.." He whispered to no one in particular. He didn't have time to think it over, as a loud scream filled the mansion. Marth raced up the stairs, seeing a crying Ness standing at the top of them, looking into Kirby's room. Marth ran over to get a better look as to what he was staring at, and his face went pale as he looked inside the dark room.

Kirby lay in the middle of the room, a thin dagger potruding from his stomach. Marth noticed that a small note, just like the last was attached to the hilt of the dagger. Gathering up his courage, he walked inside the room, removed the note from the dagger quickly, and exited the room slamming the door shut behind him.

"_Hee-Hee!_

_Another one is now gone, just like the first!_

_Mario, and Kirby, oh dear, who should I choose next?_

_Hee-Hee! Hee-Hee!_

_A game of cat and mouse now begins! With only 23 remaining, this shall be a very interesting game indeed!"_

Marth gulped. Yet again, the note contained a splotch of blood at the very end of it. What exactly did they mean by 'a game of cat and mouse now begins'? Looks like whatever it means, this killer is going to do anything in their power to kill off every last person living in the mansion.

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**A/N: End of chapter 2! Excuse me if it gets pretty lame about halfway through, my brain kinda stopped working at around the fight scene. Thus, bringing me to the conclusion, that im not good at fight scenes. That, or writing at 3 in the morning is not a good idea. 8D **

**Marth: rolls eyes**

**Whatever. Anywho, review! Next chapter will probably be up either this weekend, or next week. Im getting a new computer, so im probably going to wait for that until I write my next chapter. But worry not, as it has already shipped and is on its way, so it wont be a long wait. :D **

**Also, excuse any spelling errors in this chappie, im kinda lacking spell check at the moment. :S **


	3. A new element comes into play

**Zomg, yes! My new computer arrived. 8D So here is chapter 3.**

**Review Responses:**

_**Gooey: **_**Possibly, possibly. I can't reveal anything yet though, you'll have to keep reading ;D **

_**Jeo the Fire God: **_**Hehe, maybe.. maybe. XD Disappearing ink? Hmm. You'll figure out what the black stuff was later on in the story, or maybe this chapter. Heck, whenever I feel like revealing it, I guess. :P **

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Marth ran to his room and quietly shut the door behind him, someone would find Kirby eventually, and if he was near the room when they did he would probably become a prime suspect of the murders. He wanted to avoid that at all costs, as becoming a prime suspect wouldn't make anything easier.

He sighed as he turned on the lamp that sat on his bedside table before seating himself on the edge of his bed, and pulling out the small note that he had found on the dagger that Kirby was stabbed by. It just all didn't add up in his mind, Kirby was acting strange all day. Normally, Kirby was one of the more gentle creatures at the mansion, and he would never attack anyone like he did Pikachu, much less over a simple piece of cake. But one thing was for certain, the thing that he and Roy had fought earlier is definately still out there somewhere. It was either still alive, or there are others out there still, but that didn't seem to make sense either.

Marth folded the small note and place it in his desk drawer. He decided that thinking about the matter any more would only make him more paranoid than he already was, and honestly, he wanted to get some sleep tonight; if only a little bit. He glanced at his digital clock, only to see that it was already going on 1:00am. He turned off his small lamp, and laid back on his bed, and rolling onto his side. He thought he heard someone walking in his room shortly after he turned off the light, but shrugged it off and slowly drifted off into sleep.

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Marth awoke at around 9:00 the next morning. He glanced out his window and saw that the rain had stopped, but now a heavy fog lingered just above the ground. He was unable to see very far out the window because of this. He stood up off his bed, and began walking towards his door, but he stopped when he looked down to his floor. A deep red liquid, which looked to be blood stained the carpet in large amounts, and now the bottom of his boots were stained by the liquid. He froze in shock, still just staring at the liquid, before he heard a small knock at his door.

_"Yo! Marth, you up yet?"_ It sounded like Link. _"Im coming in, whether you want me too or not!" _

Sure enough, the happy go lucky elf opened the door, but his eyes widened when he saw Marth standing in a pool of blood.

"Oh my gosh! Marth!" Link shouted, before rushing over and making sure his friend wasn't hurt in any way.

"Im fine.. just a little shocked I guess.." Marth murmured, and Link sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness. Man, you had me scared there for a minute!" Link scolded.

"Everything alright in he- WHAT THE?!" Roy had just entered the room, and blinked, looking down at the blood and then back up to Marth several times. "What the heck happened?"

"As if I know. I just woke up and saw this red liquid on my carpet, I have no idea how it got here." Marth exited the room with his friends, taking off his stained boots and leaving them by the door of his room.

"Well, that was blood. Im sure of it." Roy stated, as they walked to the cafeteria.

"That's pretty obvious." Link rolled his eyes, causing Roy to glare and make faces at him when he wasn't looking. Marth stifled a laugh.

They entered the cafeteria, only to find that they were the only ones there. The others smashers finished eating a long time ago.

"Well, whole cafeteria to ourselves. How fun!" Roy said enthusiastically, as they took a seat at their table.

"Did you both know.. about Kirby?" Marth suddenyl asked, when he confirmed that they were indeed alone in the room.

"Yeah, he's a little pink puffball that runs around the mansion alot." Marth playfully hit Link on the arm for that comment.

"Not like that. Kirby, he... well.." Marth wasn't too sure how to say it. "I found him dead in his room last night. A dagger was potruding from his stomach." As if on cue, a scream rang out through the mansion.

"And it looks like they found him." Roy sighed, dropping his bagel on the table and following the other two out of the cafeteria.

"What happened?" Marth asked as they ran up to Zelda, who was kneeling on the ground, tears streaming from her eyes. As soon as she saw them, she got up and ran to Link. Link embraced her in a comforting hug as she continued to cry on his shoulder.

"Kirby.." She managed to whisper.

"Knew it." Roy said, and marth shot him a glare. He got the message, and went silent.

Link took Zelda to her room before the other smashers arrived at the scene, a few gave Roy and Marth weird looks, while others just glanced into the room.

"Another one, eh?" Ganondorf was the first to speak, he shook his head as he looked at Kirby's room. The floor was stained with blood, where Kirby had been murdered. Samus had came in and removed his body as soon as she got to his room.

"Man, something is definately going on here. And I don't like it." Falco was the next to speak. He still sounded half asleep as he spoke.

"You don't like most things." Fox rolled his eyes, and Falco yawned in response.

"What does it matter? What matters is, people are dieing, and there's nothing we can do to stop it!" Marth shouted, causing everyone around him to fall silent and stare at him. "There's someone, or something out there that's hunting us down one by one, and soon all of us are going to be dead."

"How do we know it's not you that's killing everyone?" Captain Falcon asked, causing a few to nod in agreement.

"Yeah!" Ness shouted.

"Why are you acussing me? I didn't kill anyone!"

"ENOUGH!" Bowser roared. everyone went silent once again.

"Whatever. Im outta here." Falco sighed and walked away from the group. A few others walked away as well, leaving only Marth, Roy, Bowser, and Captain Falcon alone in the hallway.

"Im gone. But im watching you, tiara boy." Captain Falcon growled as he descended the stairs.

The others began to walk away as well, but they stopped when they heard a bone crunching sound and thud behind them. Running over to the sound, they saw Captain Falcon laying at the bottom of the stairs, his body twisted in a weird direction.

"Not again..." Marth gasped as he ran down the stairs and checked Captain Falcon for a pulse. "He's.. dead."

"Was it an accident, do you think?" Bowser asked. He stayed put at the top of the stairs, looking down at the scene below him.

"I.. can't say." An arrow suddenly flew directly in front of Marth's face, causing him to fall backwards and onto to ground. The tip of the arrow was now stuck into the floor, only a few feet away from where Marth was previously standing.

"Marth, you alright?" Roy grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet, before going over and pulling the arrow from the floor. "It has a note on it. Here." He handed the note to Marth, who frantically took it and read it out loud.

"_Hee-Hee!_

_My, my, my! It was so hard to choose! The poor little captain whom was always so clumsy seems to have taken a deadly fall!_

_Hee-Hee! _

_The game has only just begun, and already on 22 remain. A new element shall soon come into play! My, this will be fun! _

Strangely enough, there was no blood spot on the note this time, instead it was crumpled and had a small hole near the bottom from where it was attached to the arrow tip.

"A new element?" Bowser asked as he carefully walked down the stairs.

"Im not too sure what it means, but something tells me we'll find out soon enough." Marth sighed, beginning to pace around the room. Roy sat down on the couch, mumbling to himself.

"We need to find whoever is behind this, and put an end to it." Marth stated, as he stopped pacing and sat down on the couch beside Roy.

"No way, I never would have thought of that." Bowser rolled his eyes, causing Marth to do the same.

"Well i'll tell you want I want to do, and it's watch T.V." Roy grabbed the remote, and pressed the on button. The T.V flickered and flashed, before colorful lights appeared on the screen. The lights stayed on the screen for a moment, before the T.V suddenly turned off on its own, and all the lights in the mansion went off, leaving them in pitch black darkness. "Alright, this time, I swear it wasn't me.."

"Looks like the-a power went out. Must have-a blown a fuse." They turned toward the new speaker, and saw Luigi approaching them, carrying two lanterns, and a toolbox. His eyes were poofy, and it was obvious that he had been crying recently, most likely because of Mario's sudden and unexpected death the previous day. He placed one of the lanterns down on the table in front of the couch, and turned it on. The room was filled with a small light that emitted from the lantern. It wasn't much, but it was enough that allowed them to at least see most of the room and their surroundings.

"That helps. Any idea why it went out?" Bowser asked, but Luigi only shook his head.

"No idea. Im going to-a check the fuse box now-a. I'll try my-a best to-a get it back on." He tipped his hat to dismiss himself, and headed for the basement with toolbox in hand.

So there they were. Sitting alone in the darkened lounge, their only light source came from the small lantern that was barely able to light the room. The tension in the air was certainly growing by the minute, and Bowser eventually left the room. He took Captain Falcon's body with him, and was obviously going to see Samus about getting rid of it. Roy began to leave as well, and headed for the outside.

"Being outside is better than being in a dark creepy old mansion with a psycho killer on the loose. At least outside there is some light, and I can see my surroundings." Roy told Marth as he headed for the front door. Marth was about to warn him about the heavy fog outside, but he figured he would find out soon enough. That was, if he could get out the door in the first place.

"The door won't open! Marth, c'mere and help me." Marth sighed as he got up from the couch and tried to help Roy with the door, but it just wouldn't budge.

"Man, it's like this thing is glued shut. There's nothing blocking it is there?" Marth asked.

Roy shook his head. "If there was, I would have moved it out of the way already."

"Good point." Marth pushed the curtains the covered the windows back, in an attempt to shed some more light into the mansion. He scanned the area outside to see if there was anything in front of the door, but found nothing. The fog had grown heavier since earlier that morning, and he couldn't see two feet in front of him now.

"Well this is great," Roy began as he sat down on the floor in front of the door, "we're trapped inside a mansion with a psycho killer on the loose, the front door won't budge so we can't get outside, it's completely pitch black in most places in here, and three people have died already. Yeah. Im not paranoid at all!" He let out a nervous laugh as soon as he finished.

"All of us are a little scared about this whole thing, you know. So it's alright to be a little afraid."

"Hah! Im not afraid of this guy. We kicked his butt the first time he tried attacking, and there's much more where that came from." He made a taunting gesture at no one in particular as he finished his tough guy speech.

"If you say so." Marth settled himself back down on the couch, and relaxed as best as he could. Relaxing however, was a hard thing to do when a mansion of such size was lacking any power what so ever, and there was a killer on the loose.

Just as he seemed to get comfortable, a blood curdling scream rang out through the mansion, startling both Marth and Roy and they jumped to their feet in an instant. Marth grabbed the lantern and they headed up the stairs, trying not to stumble or trip on any misplaced object and fall flat on their faces. At the top of the stairs, they saw Zelda and Link.

"Marth! Roy! We were just coming to get you." Link said as soon as he spotted the two. "But unfortunately, we were kind of interrupted along the way.." He pushed open the door they were standing by, and motioned for the two to glance inside the room. Marth and Roy both gasped in unison at what they saw inside the room.

The Ice Climbers, Popo and Nana, both lay on the floor inside. Their necks had been slit open by what looked to be a small dagger. A note lay on the floor near them, away from the puddle of blood that was growing on the carpet, but still in plain sight.

"Wait here, i'll go get the note." Marth muttered, and the others nodded. He slipped into the room, trying not to glance at the bloody sight in front of him, as he picked up the small note and exited the room as fast as he possibly could. When outside, he hesitantly opened the note, and read it aloud.

"_Hee-Hee! _

_You like my game so far, yes? _

_Well too bad if you don't! The game is only starting, my friends. And there are many more fun surprises to come! _

_Hee-Hee! _

_Only 22 now remain. Oh dear, who to choose?"_

This time two splotches of blood stained the bottom of the note, a thin slit also ran along the bottom. Marth tucked the note away in his pocket, where he also kept the other note he recently recieved from Captain Falcon's killing.

"This killer guy has a really sick sense of humor." Roy snapped, as Marth finished reading the note.

"This is getting more dangerous by the minute. We need to round everyone up and keep them together. Strength in numbers, right?" Link suggested, and Zelda instantly agreed.

"Your right. That might be the best idea for right now, at least until we can figure out just who or what is killing people. As long as we stick together, there should be no problem, right?" Marth also agreed with Link, and Roy nodded his head.

"Yup, agreed. Let's all get as many smashers as we can find, and meet up in the lounge in fifteen. Sound good?" They all agreed with Roy, and all four of them went different directions, in search of the other smashers.

**--------------------**

**Yeah, I know. I had to cut it there, because if I didn't, the next paragraph I was going to write would seem too out of place, and it would be better to save it for the next chapter.**

**Also, do you guys think I might be moving a bit too fast with the killings, and the happenings, and all that jazz? If I am, just tell me and i'll slow things down a tad. **

**Oh, and yes, im counting the Ice Climbers as just one person. Why? I have no idea. That's just the way it is, I guess. **

**End of authors note! Hope you guys liked this chappie, next one's coming soon:D **

**And im still lacking spell check. **


	4. Seeking the others

**A/N: Well, I'm back after a month long vacation. Yeah, I know. But I got Brawl.. and that's been consuming my time. But it's worth it! :D I'll make this chapter pretty long to make up for my long absence. So read and enjoy! **

**Review Responses: **

_**Jeo the F**_**ire ****_God: _Holy fudge, I can't believe I missed that. o.O Whoops.. XD Woow. You did have a lot to say, hah. Hehe.. I'm not revealing anything on who the murderer is. I like to keep people guessing, and those were some very good guesses.. I originally had it planned for Luigi to be in last chappie anyway even if you didn't mention him. I always pictured him as the techy-type guy, so he was the one to try and fix the lights. XD I've actually played Lineage II before, I don't play it anymore though, so I have a feeling I would understand your story perfectly. :D Oh and thank you for the long review, seems like it took a while to type, hah. **

_**Muse Lord Mai-chan: **_**Yes, yes, stay safe Roy! Wouldn't want anything happening to him.. **

_**Gooey: **_**There should be no more spelling errors. I got Spell Check fixed now. Huzzah! **

_**Fantasia14: **_**What if it's not a villain? :3 Ooh and good point on the whole emotion thing. Maybe I did make them a little too emotionless on that subject.. I'll fix that. **

_**Midnightxwolfx:**_**True, true, the story would be much longer. I may slow them down a bit..**

**Also: In this chapter I'm going to be switching back and forth between characters. So it won't be completely focused on Marth the whole time this chappie. Hope you enjoy! :D Oh and an important note: Only 21 remain now. I made an error last chapter, it should have been 21 remain instead of 22. Thanks to Jeo the Fire God for pointing that out. :D **

Dorm Halls, Zelda and Link

The hylians swiftly made their ways down the darkened hallways. Zelda held a small ball of Din's Fire in her hands as a light source, providing enough light for them to see where they were going. Link had his sword unsheathed and was on the alert, constantly glancing around in every direction. He would be as cautious as possible, as one misstep could trigger some sort of trap the killer could have set for them to fall in to.

Nearing one of the rooms, they hesitantly opened the door. The inside was pitch black, and various gadgets and gizmo's decorated the room. Though it was hard to tell, they assumed they were now inside Luigi's room. The green plumber loved to tinker with different gadgets, and seeing so many just lying around the room, it was obvious Luigi had claimed this room as his.

"He doesn't appear to be here, Link." Zelda was the first to speak. Link nodded, and they exited the room and opened the door just across from Luigi's room. Mario's room. The room had been cleaned up since Mario's death, but various ruined objects were still scattered across the room. Zelda and Link both looked at each other with saddened looks, and they exited the rooms.

They continued on down the hallways, until they saw what appeared to be light shining out from underneath one of the doors they came across. Link's protective sense kicked in, and he motioned for Zelda to keep behind him. She nodded as Link opened the door just enough to allow him to peak through. Link smiled at who he saw standing inside the room.

"Samus! Good to know your okay!" The armor suit clad bounty hunter turned swiftly at the sudden voice, but relaxed when she saw it was only Link.

"Hello Link, Zelda. I was just getting ready to come and find you. Well, actually, I was getting ready to look for Luigi to help him with the fuse box, but oh well." Samus smiled, though no one could see it through her visor.

"We're trying to gather everyone up and have them meet in the lounge. Think you could head down there and wait? I'm sure others are there as well by now." Link asked, but Samus shook her head.

"Sorry, but I would rather stay with the both of you. Heading off on your own in a time like this is just asking for death." The hylians knew Samus was right, and they both nodded their head.

"That's understandable. Alright, come with us then. We need to find anyone we can, right now." Samus nodded, grabbed her lantern, and followed the two out of her room.

Along with their new companion, the three began to scan the rooms in the hallways, searching for the other smashers.

"Hey Zel, what happened to Peach?" Link suddenly asked, and Zelda gasped.

"Oh, that's right! I left her alone back at her room, oh she must be worried sick! Come on, we need to head to her room quickly." Zelda motioned for the two to follow, and they headed quickly down the halls to Peach's room.

It didn't take them long to arrive at her room, as Zelda quickly flung the door open. Peach screamed from the sudden movement, and stared at the three who had just entered her room. Link glanced at her tear streaked face and smiled warmly. Samus waved to Peach as Zelda rushed over to make sure Peach was alright. She brought her friend into a comforting hug, as Peach let out small sobs. She still had not gotten over Mario's death.

"I'm so sorry I didn't return sooner, Peach. I got caught up in some things, I know you were probably scared, and I'm sorry I didn't make it back sooner." Zelda comforted her friend, as Peach slowly nodded.

"It's.. alright. I was okay, just a little scared about the sudden power outage." Peach wiped a few tears from her eye and broke out of the hug.

"We need you to come with us, we're trying to get everyone together, that way we will be closer to each other if the killer does come back."

"Of course. Lead the way, please." Peach motioned for the others to exit her room, and she followed after them, walking just behind Zelda down the darkened hallways.

Garage, Roy

Roy sighed impatiently as he scanned the inside of the garage. It looked completely empty, aside from the few tables, boxes, and the large bus they called the 'Smash Bus'.

"Honestly, of all the places to look, I get one of the most boring in the whole mansion. A garage, come on, who would honestly hide in here, huh?" He mumbled to no one in particular as he shoved a few boxes out of the way, revealing nothing. He blinked and stared at the floor expecting something to just pop out. At least that would make things more interesting. Sighing yet again, he flung the door open that lead to the basement.

"Do I really want to go down there?" He considered his options: Stay here in this empty garage and look for nothing, or, go down in the dark creepy basement and look for Luigi. "Yes. Yes. I do."

He trekked down the stairs, his sword ablaze, using it as his only light source. The wooden stairs creaked under the weight as he descended and suddenly he felt as if he was in one of those freaky horror movies where the complete idiot decides to go down into the basement for no reason. Except, he wasn't an idiot, no, of course not.

Arriving at the bottom of the stairs, he glanced around the area and saw nothing but even more boxes.

"What is this? Box world? Good grief." He grumbled and kicked one of the boxes near him, causing it to topple over onto the floor with a loud crash. He heard something yelp near him, and went into a defensive stance. "Whose there?" He shouted.

"Roy? Is that-a you?" An Italian voice sounded, a voice that could only belong to one person.

"Luigi? Where are you?"

"Over-a here, near the-a fuse box." Roy followed the sound of his voice, and eventually found the plumber fiddling with the wires inside the fuse box, obviously trying to fix whatever was the problem. After a little while, Luigi sighed and backed away from the fuse box and looked up to Roy. "There's absolutely nothing wrong-a with it. I'm-a honestly not sure why the-a power is-a out."

"Well that's.. weird. Anyway, Luigi, think you could head up to the lounge? We're trying to round everyone up so we could be better prepared to fight against whatever the heck is killing people off." Luigi nodded, grabbed his flashlight and headed out of the basement, Roy following right behind him. When they arrived at the top of the stairs, Luigi spoke up.

"I'm-a going to stay-a here for a while-a," Luigi motioned for Roy to go ahead and leave, "I'll-a catch up later."Roy thought it was a bit odd, but shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright fine, just make sure you get to the lounge in under fifteen minutes. Got it?" Luigi smiled and nodded his head, Roy left the room soon after to leave Luigi to do whatever it is he was about to do.

"Well that was kinda.. weird. But whatever. Luigi is a strange little guy, I'll say that." Roy huffed and began walking down the hallway towards the cafeteria. "Maybe I'll run into Marth once I get to the cafeteria.." A scuffing sound behind him made him stop in his tracks and turn around. "Luigi?" No sign of the green plumber. Shrugging, he turned back around and continued on towards the cafeteria. Another sound similar to what he just heard made him turn around again.

"Look, alright, Luigi, if this is some sort of joke it's not funny." Roy glared, but again saw no one. Turning again, he quickened his pace and continued on for the cafeteria. "Why the heck do we have such long hallways?" He let out a string of curses under his breath and yet again he heard the scuffing sound, only this time it was louder. "Alright, enough of this." He made his sword once again go ablaze with flames and turned to face whoever was following him.

"My, aren't you completely clueless." A husky voice sounded from above him, and he quickly looked up towards the ceiling. A figure in a black cloak was hanging from the ceiling, looking down at him. The figure dropped down just in front of him, causing Roy to step back a few feet.

"Who the heck are you?" No answer. "Answer me when I'm talking to you!"

"I see no need to reveal myself to someone I am about to kill." The figure pulled out a small dagger, the hilt encrusted with various jewels and the blade was jagged and long.

"You? Kill me? I thought I already taught you a lesson once, guess you want another butt whooping huh?" The figure smirked at this statement.

"Who says that was me, last time? Oh my, my, I guess you didn't know that all leaders do have pawns they use to do their dirty work." Roy just shot it a glare.

"No, I didn't, I was completely clueless to that fact." Roy said in a sarcastic, mocking tone of voice. "Heh, well if you're better than the boring 'pawn' you sent earlier, I have no objections to fighting you."

"You're either brave, or extremely stupid, boy. No matter, shall we begin the game, then?"

The figure was the one to make the first move. It charged at Roy, dagger drawn. Roy managed to jump back just as the figure swiped at him, aiming for the neck. It was the redhead's turn to charge now, as he leapt into the air and brought his sword down on the killer's head, sending it toppling to the ground. The cloaked figured on the ground disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, making Roy raise an eyebrow.

"Not too bad, kid. But not good enough." A voice from behind Roy cause him to roll forward and turn to face the figure in front of him. The figure just laughed causing the pyro to glare at him once again. The figure came to an abrupt stop in his laughing, and vanished, causing Roy to gasp in surprise, it re appeared just behind Roy.

"Crud!" The redhead didn't have time to dodge as a dagger was shoved straight into his left arm. He let out a cry of pain and swiftly moved away from the figure.

"I begin to grow bored of this child's play." The figure yawned and unsheathed a sword from his belt. "Time to finish you now." He smirked and charged at Roy at a blinding speed, Roy barely had enough time to block the blow that was aimed at his chest. Pushing on his sword, he managed to push the killer back a ways, and provide him with an opening. Slashing his sword horizontally, Roy managed to tear a piece off of the figure's cloak, yet it it's self seemed unphased. Stuffing the small piece of purple cloth into his pocket for later, he glanced up and managed to look into the killer's ice blue eyes.

"You.. you're-!" Was all Roy managed to say, as he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Slowly looking down, he saw the figure's sword was protruding from his stomach. Blood coated the sword, as the figure pulled it out of Roy's stomach and kicked him back, causing him to hit one of the walls of the hall. Dropping his sword, Roy slid down into a sitting position while clutching his stomach.

"I told you boy, you couldn't beat me." It laughed. "I am however, afraid I must be going now. I think I shall leave you here to suffer, because you see I think that is a fitting demise for someone like you." It's last words were filled with venom.

"I'll get you.. I can't die here.." Roy snarled at the figure who only let out a guffaw.

"I will admire your determination, boy. However, that determination will not get you far here." It smirked and rose a gloved hand, waving slightly, before disappearing in a puff of purple smoke, leaving Roy injured and bleeding in the hallway.

"Curse.. you.." Was all he managed to say before the hall around him began to spin, and he slowly closed his eyes, drifting into unconsciousness.

Cafeteria, Marth

Marth hurriedly looked around the kitchen. He had already managed to find Ness, Pikachu, and Falco lingering in the kitchen, and had sent them to the lounge. After much convincing, Falco had agreed to go find Fox and tell him to come to the lounge. Falco, being the nice avian he is, also agreed to help look for the other smashers. This pleased Marth a little, knowing that finding the others will be somewhat easier with more helping hands.

"Hello? Anyone in here?" Marth asked as he pushed open one of the doors that lead to the cook's area. After scanning the area and deciding it was empty, he walked across the room to the pantry. Opening the small door, he found Jigglypuff sleeping inside. "Um, Jigglypuff?" He poked the small creature, causing her to stir and open her big round eyes.

"Mnn.. Hmm? Oh, Marth. Hello." Jigglypuff yawned and stared at Marth while climbing off one of the shelves and landing softly on the floor.

"Jigglypuff, please head for the lounge. We are trying to gather up as many smashers as possible." Jigglypuff shrugged and walked off.

"Alright." She said before leaving the room.

"Well that was simple.." Marth left the room after Jigglypuff and decided to head for the lounge to see just who was there already.

A few moments later, he arrived inside the lounge. The small lantern that sat on the table still shone brightly, illuminating the room and everyone who stood inside it. He was glad when everyone as from the ones who were murdered previously, were all accounted for. However he noticed that neither Roy nor Luigi were currently present.

"Glad everyone is here.. say, has any of you seen Luigi or Roy? They were supposed to be back here by now.." Some smashers in the room whispered back and forth while others shrugged. Zelda was the first to give an answer.

"I believe he headed for the garage to look for Luigi, Marth. You could check there." Marth smiled and uttered a small thanks before turning on his heel and heading through the cafeteria to the hallway that lead to the garage. He held his small lantern in front of his slightly to allow him to see where he was going once he reached the hallway. He spotted something on the ground in the distance and cautiously rushed towards it. As he got closer his eyes widened at the object that came into view. Roy was lying on the ground, bleeding heavily. His clothes and armor were stained with his own blood, as well as the carpeted floor.

"Oh my god! Roy!" Marth placed his lantern on the ground in a hurry and rushed over to his friend. Grabbing his shoulders and shaking him a few times, he shouted at his friend to try and wake him up. "Wake up! Please, wake up! Don't you dare die on me!" He checked for a pulse, it was faint, but still there. This made him even more frantic. Thinking for a moment, he carefully picked Roy up into his arms, careful not to touch the wounds. Running as fast he could without tripping or hurting Roy, he made his way through the cafeteria. He made his way into the lounge and didn't stop to talk to any of the smashers who were asking him as many questions as they could think up. A few looked shocked as he ran towards Dr. Mario's office. Kicking the door, Dr. Mario soon opened it, and quickly motioned for Marth to place Roy on one of the makeshift medical beds. Much to his dismay, the doctor then shooed him out of the room.

"Marth.." Link was the first to speak once the bluenette entered the lounge again. "I'm sorry this had to happen.." Marth didn't speak, but only nodded and sat down on the couch, holding his head in his hands.

"And so another one becomes gravely injured.." Ganondorf sighed and Marth shot him a death glare, silencing him instantly.

"Now is not the time to speak of such things, Ganondorf." Zelda growled at the man, who only scoffed.

Marth sighed and glanced at Zelda.

"It was my fault, I should have stayed with him.. I should have known something like this would happen.. and yet I just.." He couldn't hold back a small sob that racked his body, and he quickly turned away from the others in the room and placed his head in his hands once again. Peach placed a comforting hand on his back.

"It's alright. It's not your fault." Marth only shook his head, but did not speak.

"So where do we go from here?" Link spoked up. His voice was shaky, and he looked nervous and concerned at the same time.

"Now that everyone is here, I guess we just try to find this guy and take him down." Falco said, obviously not really affected by the scene that just took place. Fox smacked him on the head for not even caring about one of their fellow comrades. Falco mumbled something under his breath, but let it slide with no complaining.

"Falco is right. We need to hunt this guy down." Fox stated, and a few others in the room agreed with him.

"That's fine and everything, but first we should all probably get some rest. It's starting to get late." Link pointed to the window, seeing that the sun was already beginning to go down. "But we should all probably sleep here in this room. We can have someone take a night shift to watch over everyone as they sleep, that way they can alert us if anything happens."

"Good idea." Peach smiled at Link, who smiled back.

"I'll.. take first shift." Marth spoke up. His voice was ragged as he lifted his head up. His face was wet, as he was obviously crying, and a few others felt sorry for him. "I won't be able to sleep tonight anyways."

"I'll stay up with you. You don't look so good." Link spoke up, Marth smiled at his offer and accepted it. Zelda also offered to stay up with them.

"Alright so Zelda, Marth, and Link take first shift." Samus noted, and they agreed. "Very well. Let's all settle down and get some rest now then. We need all the energy we can get, after all."

The room was large, providing the smashers with enough room to choose a spot in the room and get comfortable. The couches and chairs were the first to be claimed, as others settled for the floor. Jigglypuff however for some reason, settled for sleeping on top of the table, while Pikachu slept underneath the table.

Marth stood near the doctor's office, waiting and praying to the heavens that Dr. Mario would come out baring good news. Minutes passed until Link came over and placed a hand on his friends shoulder, he gave him a comforting smile and waited outside the door with Marth.

"He'll be okay, I just know he will. He's a tough guy, Roy won't go down that easy, he's way too stubborn for that." This comment earned a small chuckle from Marth, but it was quickly replaced by a sad frown.

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Link.." Link frowned, Marth looked so tired, and his speech was slurred slightly.

"Hey, what are friends for?" This made Marth frown even more.

"Friends are there for each other.. to protect each other.. I should have been there.."

"Oh would you stop already, it's not your fault. Look, he's my friend too, but sitting here moping about it all night won't change anything." Link sighed, he hated the fact that two of his best friends were in horrible shape right now.

They sat in silence for what seemed like hours, before Dr. Mario emerged from his room, a sad look on his face.

"Link, Marth.. I'm-a not exactly sure how I'm-a going to say-a this." Dr. Mario cleared his throat before speaking anymore. "I'm-a afraid that there-a is a good chance that.. Roy won't make it through the night-a."

**-Is pelted by bricks for leaving off at a cliffhanger- **

**Marth: Jerk, leaving off at such an important part like that. **

**I know I know, I'm sorry but there was bound to be a cliffhanger somewhere in the story, and I chose to have it now. I love Roy, I really do, and I hated writing this chapter because of it. D: But it had to be done.. I'll let all of you choose whether he should live or die, so it's up to you. -shrug- **

**Roy: D: **

**Marth: D: **

**...Anyways, review and tell me what you thought. :D Also, yey! I have Spell Check again! **


	5. Revealed?

**A/N: Helloooo everyone! I be back with another chapter. This update was a bit faster than usual, I just didn't want to leave you guys off at a cliffhanger and not update again for a while.. D: **

**Review Responses (lots this time o.O) **

_**Gooey: **_**That spelling error was intentional! I swear! D: Too bad I stink at writing fight scenes.. it could have came out so much better.**

_**Muse Lord Mai-chan: **_**Yes he's very pyroistic and awesome. I'm glad it got interesting, that's what I was hoping for. :D **

_**Meloncolygeneral23:**_**Glad you like it so far. **

_**Kitt Kumo: **_**Eep.. well don't be mad, I'll make sure he lives! ..Somehow.. I can't reveal anything yet.. but I will say that guess is close. :D**

_**ipod Junkie:**_** Gack! -hides from the psychotic convulsion- He shall live! ..I hope. A lot of smashers have blue eyes if you really look at them. **

_**Fantasia14: **_**It makes me upset they cut Roy from Brawl. He was a great character. :( That's a good theory, though I cannot reveal much yet. It's a good guess though. :D **

_**ShadowFox95: **_**Glad you enjoy the story so far. **

_**Ixidor Alucard: **_**Roy does rock, for that reason I have decided I will make him live.. somehow. **

_**Midnightxwolfx: **_**Yes, Live dang you! LIVEEE!! -breaks out medical tools- **

**Roy: O.o **

**Hehe..**

_**Jeo the Fire God: **_**Holy fudge muffins! That's a looooong review. o.O Oh, making Link use his traditional grunt would be cool, you're right. XD That's the first time anyone has guessed that Peach is the murderer. XD And yes, Roy is awesome. And it's true, it was a dumb move to go into the basement alone, but hey, would you rather be stuck in a boring garage staring at boxes or take a chance and go into the exciting basement? XD Luigi! Run! He's on to you!...Just kidding. :D OMG. He dies in the second sword of seals game? NOOOOOOO! Nah, Brawl characters won't be included. Only Melee characters, so you can rule out Pit as the murderer. :P I just gave the Pokemon voices so that they could have a say in the story too.. hehe. Well geez, if your vote counts for like.. 70, then I guess Roy lives. o.0 Oh, and I used to play a dwarf Artisan. I think I was around level 30.. so I wasn't too high, hehe. I forget which server I played on.. D: **

_**lilypad456: **_**Poor Roy. D: Thanks for the review! :D **

**You guys are great, for that, each of you gets a cookie! Anyways, I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed and enjoyed my story, I thank the readers too. :D **

**Chapter 5, go!**

**...**

The two swordsmen stood there in utter shock at what they had just heard. Roy not live through the night? None of it seemed real to the two, one of their best friends was probably going to die, and there wasn't a thing they could do about it. This grave news didn't help Marth much, as his eyes filled with sadness and he let the silent tears fall.

Dr. Mario sighed. He never liked bringing such news as this, but it was the consequences of being a doctor, as he would always tell himself. He motioned for the two boys to follow him into his office and they hurriedly followed after him. The soft light from a candle was enough to allow them to see inside the room as the doctor pulled back one of the curtains that surrounded a bed. There lying on the bed was Roy. His tunic and armor had been replaced by large bandages, which covered the wound on his stomach. There were also a few bandages on his arm where he had been stabbed by the dagger.

Link sighed at the site. "Doc, what's his chances of actually surviving the night?"

"His-a chances are about 50. It is still relatively high, we can-a just hope he prevails."

"I.. see. Well, he's a tough guy. Heh, not even death would be able to stop Roy." Link chuckled and Marth smirked, knowing he was right.

"As much as I hate to leave, Link and I promised we would take first shift watching over the others while they sleep. Doctor, please call us and inform us if anything happens, and be sure to stay safe." Marth said as he an Link made their way over to the door.

"I will-a. I'll do everything I-a can." Dr. Mario waved at the two as they left the room and shut the door behind them.

**...**

Two hours had passed since the two had been in Dr. Mario's office. They had settled themselves on the floor in the lounge as they constantly shifted their eyes around the room, looking for anything misplaced that wasn't there before. A small lantern sat on one of the tables in the lounge, illuminating the room just enough which allowed the two to see everyone in the room.

All was quiet until Link's hand suddenly flew to the hilt of his Master Sword. Jumping up, he eyed the door to the cafeteria suspiciously.

"What is it, Link?" Marth stifled a yawn as he also watched the door.

"I heard something.. I just know it.." The hylian concentrated as he cautiously moved across the room, sword now drawn. In a swift movement, he opened the cafeteria door, sword held high, ready to strike down whoever stood in front of Link.

"Don't-a hurt me!" A small figure crouched on the ground in a beetle position in front of Link. The hylian chuckled as he saw who it was, and sheathed his sword.

"Luigi?"

The green plumber looked up at Link with frightened eyes. In his hand he held a small toolbox. He stood up, repositioned his cap and let out a sigh of relief.

"I-a thought you were going to attack me-a Link." He let out another sigh.

"Sorry. I didn't know it was you at first, I thought it was the killer making a return." Link smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. Marth just raised an eyebrow as he watched the two talk.

"No-a worries."

"Everyone's sleeping here in the lounge tonight. Just find a comfortable spot and try to sleep the best you can, Marth and I are on first watch. I swear if that killer even so much as comes near this room, he will get a master sword shoved straight up his-" A boot flying across the room and smacking Link in the back of the head interrupted him mid sentence.

"Oi! Shut yer' yammerin' skull cave! Some of us are tryin' to sleep!" Falco was the one who apparently threw the boot, Marth laughed quietly to himself at how badly his speech was slurred. The avian glowered at Link before plopping his head back down onto his pillow and drifting off again.

"Alright, OW?" Link whispered and stuck his tongue out at the bird before leaning against a wall and resuming watch. After Luigi made himself comfortable and settled down, all was quiet in the lounge once again.

"You have to admit, that was amusing." Marth whispered to his friend who just grunted.

"You still upset about Roy?" Link asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yes.. but I am trying to control my emotions. You were right, crying and moping about it all night won't help anything. I just pray to the gods he makes it through the night." Link nodded, glancing down when he felt something tug on his pants leg.

"Young Link? What are you doing up?" He crouched down so he was eye level with his younger self.

"I'm thirsty, I want a glass of water.." The small hylian rubbed his eye with the back of his hand and yawned, Link sighed.

"Alright, stay here with Marth.. I'll be right back." He took one of the many lanterns that lay scattered around the room and lit it, providing himself with a light source.

Link made his way into the cafeteria, although he almost tripped over a table, he managed to make his way to the sink and dig out a clean cup from one of the cabinets. While he was filling it with water, he noticed a strange vial sitting on the counter top near the oven. Placing the now filled cup down on the counter and picking up the vial, he looked at the strange liquid inside of it.

"Err.. that's kinda weird. Must be one of those special ingredients the cooks use when preparing our meals. Looks kinda gross though.." He muttered to himself before making a disgusted face and placing the vial back down onto the counter. Grabbing the glass of water, he avoided any tables and re entered the lounge.

"Thanks!" Young Link smiled happily as Link handed him the glass of water.

"Don't mention it." Link grinned and ruffled his younger self's hair with his hand, causing Young Link to swat at his hand. "Now get back to bed, you need plenty of sleep if you want to grow up big and strong!" Link struck a pose and Marth laughed.

"Yeah, you don't want to be wimpy like Mr. Klutz over here." Marth grinned as Link glared at him. Rolling his eyes and placing the cup down on the ground, Young Link hurried back over to his spot to lay back down. It was then they noticed that Samus was awake and watching the two, she had removed her helmet, allowing them to see her serious face.

"You two go ahead and get some rest. I'll take over from here." The bounty hunter said as she made her way over to the two and motioned for them to find a spot and sleep.

"Fine. Thanks Samus." Link smiled.

Stumbling around the lounge and trying not to trip over any of the slumbering smashers, the two finally found a spot and settled down for the remainder of the night.

**...**

By morning, all of the smashers seemed to awaken at the same time. Well, this was because Ganondorf was complaining quite loudly about his sore back, and how he was never sleeping on the floor again. Link and Young Link teased him about it all through the morning, much to their dismay, he was much too sore today to chase them all around the mansion.

As soon as Marth woke up, he made a beeline for Dr. Mario's office. He didn't both knocking, he simply flung the door open and made his way inside, hoping to find the doctor awake.

"Ah! Marth! I'm-a glad you're here." The doctor's smiling face was surely a sign of good news.

"How is he?"

"I did everything I-a could. He-a will live, though he will-a need some time to-a recover."

"Thank the gods.."

"Oh-a, Marth would you-a mind bringing me some-a breakfast? I don't want to-a leave the office alone right-a now with a killer on the loose." Marth shrugged and nodded. Dr. Mario uttered a small thanks as the swordsman left the room and headed for the cafeteria. Link was the first to greet him as he entered.

"Yeah, so how is he?" Link said the words so fast, Marth had to make him repeat the sentence slowly, and in a more calm manner.

"He's going to live." Link literally did a back flip and rushed up and hugged Zelda. She smiled along with him when he told her the good news.

After delivering the breakfast to Dr. Mario, and eating some breakfast of his own, Marth, followed by Link, entered the lounge, and found Pikachu sitting quietly on the couch.

"Heya Pikachu, what's up?" Link asked, waving to the small mouse like creature.

"Not much.." Was all Pikachu said and went back to staring off into space.

"Oh, um, alright. Uhh.. hmm." With the lack of anything better to say, Link simply hummed Zelda's lullaby, wishing he had his ocarina with him right now. "I think I left it in my room.." He muttered quietly, though the others didn't hear him.

"I'm not feeling too good.." Pikachu suddenly brought one of his small paws up to his head and exhaled a ragged sigh.

"What's wrong?" Marth glanced down at the mouse. "Pikachu?" Pikachu didn't respond, and instead collapsed on the ground. "Pikachu! Link, get Dr. Mario, hurry!" Marth ordered in a frantic voice, and Link hopped over the back of the couch and raced off towards Dr. Mario's office. "Hold on, Pikachu.." The blue haired swordsman muttered as he awaited Dr. Mario's arrival.

A few moments later Link re entered the room with Dr. Mario following quickly behind him, medical case in his hand. After carefully examining Pikachu, Dr. Mario shook his head.

"He's-a dead.."

"Dead? How? He was feeling fine just a little bit ago, what happened?" Link questioned.

"He-a was poisoned. Someone must have-a put something in his-a food this morning." Without another word, Dr. Mario put away his tools, and hobbled away back towards his office.

"Wait a minute.." Link suddenly recalled the vial he had found last night when he had went to get Young Link a glass of water. "Maybe that stuff was actually.."

"What is it, Link?" Marth asked, although he didn't know Pikachu well, his voice still contained a hint of sadness. Watching his fellow comrades pass away right in front of his eyes was something he dreaded.

"Come with me, hurry." Link demanded, and Marth followed him as they entered the cafeteria and made their way over to the sink. Sure enough, the small vial sat in the same place as it was last night, only now the liquid was now gone. On the front of the vial was placed a small yellow note. "I knew it.." Link muttered.

Marth took the note, and as always, read it aloud.

"Hee-Hee!

Oh how fun, the poison I used worked!

Only 20 remain now, who shall be next I wonder?

Hee-Hee!"

A small drop of purple liquid stained the bottom of the note. Marth sighed and tucked it away in his pants pocket.

"So that stuff was actually poison.. no wonder it looked weird. Man, I really should have known.." Link was tempted to slam his head into a wall, if it wasn't for Samus coming over and greeting the both of them.

"I heard what happened to Pikachu. It's sad, even more of us are slowly becoming victims to whomever this is. Whatever the case, it must be stopped soon before any more of us become victims to this little game." The two agreed with Samus as her blue eyes scanned the large room, glancing over every smasher. "It could be any of us. Even ones you least expect, just keep your eyes peeled and stay safe." With a small wave, she left the room.

"She's right, you know." Link sighed and stared intensely at Marth.

"What? Stop staring at me, it's rude."

"But what if you're the murderer?" Marth hit Link upside the head.

"You idiot, why the heck would I be the murderer?"

"Well if you think about it.. you've been at the scene of every murder, aside from Mario's. You were always the one to find them first and read the notes.." Link grinned after a few moments of silence. "Kidding, kidding. I know it's not you."

"Yeah, whatever." Marth sighed. "I'm going to go check on Roy, are you coming or staying here?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Link said, and the two made their way to Dr. Mario's office.

**...**

Dr. Mario motioned for the two to enter his office, a smile on his face.

"He's awake. Right-a over there." The doctor motioned for the two to make their way to a bed on the far right, and sure enough Roy was sitting up in his bed staring at the far wall. He looked as if he was thinking hard about something as Marth and Link made their way over to him. Dr. Mario took a seat at his desk, beginning to look through a cream colored folder.

"Yo, finally awake?" Link had a goofy grin plastered on his face as Roy turned his head and looked at both of them.

"How long was I out exactly?"

"Just one night." Marth smiled.

"Bah! That guy was lucky.. he just got in some lucky shots, that's all. I could take him.."

"Sure, but for now you need to get some rest and heal up." Link stated and Roy rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah, thank you mister obvious. Oh! I just remembered, when I fought the guy.. I saw his face." Roy paused, unsure of the right words to say.

"You did? Well, who was it then?" Marth prodded, and Roy sighed.

"Well.. it was.."

"Yeah? Come on, just say it!" Link nearly shouted the end of his sentence.

"Well see here's the thing.. the guy didn't look like the same. He was.. taller, and his eyes were full of hatred, I only saw his face for a brief second but I could tell that he was.. somehow.."

"Just say who it is, we can put an end to these killings if we know who it is, Roy." Marth placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and Roy sighed again, obviously frustrated on the whole subject.

"Mario. The guy I fought was definitely Mario."

**...**

**And the plot thickens! Bwahahah! I should be pelted with bricks or dangerous objects for leaving off at yet again, an important or semi important part. So go ahead, pelt away..**

**Ah, and in case you were wondering, Samus is kinda the one in charge right now. I gave her the "commanding leader" type role in this story. Why? I have no idea. She just seemed like the right one for the part. **

**This chapter seems a bit rushed, and I'm sorry about that. But ah well, here it is, in all its rushed glory. Oh, and Roy is alive! Rejoice! Rejoice! -tosses everyone cookies just because-**

**This chappie had a bit of humor to it, haha. It's good for a bit of humor every now and then, also, Link! Link rocks, so he had a bit of a bigger part in this chappie. :D **

**So, review and tell me what you thought. Good or bad, I don't mind. :P **


	6. Questions and suspicions

**A/N: Two months.. I took a two month break.. and last chappie's ending was pretty much a cliffhanger. Yeah, alright, I seriously deserve to be pelted with rocks and sharp shiny objects now.. :( But I'm back now! And I will be updating regularly again. :D**

**Review Responses:**

_**Gooey: **_**Yes, he's a tricky/sneaky little plumber.. haha.**

_**Aelsthla-Mental: **_**Good guesses! ..Though I won't be including Brawl characters in this story.. so that kinda rules Ike out I guess. XD**

_**Jeo the Fire God: **_**Yesh, you win special prize for longest review I've seen yet. XD -hands trophy- XD I play as Dr. Mario sometimes in Melee.. though I play as Roy or Marth most. :D Dun Dun Dunnnn... so many suspects, so little time.. well, actually, there's a bunch of time.. so keep guessing! XD Yes, Link is very dense. I always pictured him as the goofy, dense type guy, but I guess we'll never know since he never talks.. but in stories he does. :3 Ohhh cutting off there would be evil.. I actually thought about doing that, but I'm not that evil.. so, yeah. XD The Luigi theory is actually a good theory.. I'll say that much, but I won't say anything else, muwahah. Hmm yeah I suppose you're right. Haha I love long reviews. XD Long responses are fun too. :D **

_**Fantasia14: **_**Ooohh.. good guesses! You're on the right track, I'll say that. :D **

_**Midnightxwolfx: **_**So many possibilities, so many theories, so little time. XD**

_**x-V. i. r. g. o.-x: **_**Hiiiii! XD Luigi is a likely suspect.. he's suspect number 1 right now, actually. Poor guy. XD Glad you like my story so far and thanks for the review! :D **

_**iPod Junkie: **_**Hehe yup.. I'm actually surprised no one guessed that Mario was the murderer. XD Eep! -gets clonked on the head with a rock- Oww..**

_**His Sacrifice: **_**Glad you like my story so far. XD Good guess. :3 Luigi is a very likely suspect right now. Bleh, homework. XD Thanks for the review! :D **

**Alright, on to chapter 6! Enjoy!**

**...**

"M-Mario? There's no way.. I mean he was murdered, right?" Link looked shocked. Mario was someone everyone looked up too. It seemed highly unlikely the plumber would do anything as gruesome as murder, he didn't even really like fighting that much, though he was always forced to fight against Bowser whenever Peach would get herself kidnapped. Though seeing as no body was found, and he was the first to be murdered, Link brought a hand up to his chin and gave the subject some more thought.

"That's what we though. But like I said, this guy I fought was.. different. His eyes.. his voice.. everything about him was different." Roy sighed. "Heck, I don't even know anymore. All I'm saying is just that he resembled Mario."

"Dr. Mario, you don't happen to know anything about this do you?" Marth turned to the small doctor, who looked rather shocked at the sudden serious question.

"I'm afraid I-a don't." Dr. Mario sadly shook his head and placed down the papers he was looking through. "Though, you-a could try asking Luigi. Maybe even Bowser or-a Peach."

"Hm. Well, what do you guys think?" Link asked, and both Marth and Roy agreed it would be a good idea to ask around. Dr. Mario smiled and got up from his desk. Reaching into a cabinet, he pulled out a pair of crutches and tossed them to Link, who fumbled, but managed to catch them both.

"You-a could use those to-a help you walk, Roy. Just-a be careful, and don't go fighting or-a anything just yet." Link handed Roy the crutches, who gratefully accepted them. Pulling on his tunic, he slowly managed to get up out of the bed with the help of the crutches. He decided to leave his cape and armor behind for now, as they would only be a hindrance in his current state.

"Well, then, let's go guys!" Link pumped a fist in the air, and the three of them headed for the living room.

**...**

The trio asked any of the smashers they happened to run into if they knew anything about the killings, but none of them seemed to know anything new. They had already checked and asked anyone in the lounge and cafeteria, and their next destination was the hallways. They spotted Yoshi and decided to ask him if he knew anything. The three sighed as Yoshi shook his head and headed down the hall for the cafeteria.

"So how many have we asked so far?" Link huffed.

"I lost count.. we've asked pretty much everyone besides Peach, Samus, and Luigi. Ah, and Bowser, but I haven't seen him around all day for some reason." Marth replied.

"Oi, guys, how about we head for Peach's room next? We haven't asked her yet, and since we're near her room.." Roy suggested, and the others agreed as they set off down the hallways towards Peach's room.

Their pace was slowed due to Roy having to use crutches to walk, but after a few long minutes, they eventually made it to Peach's bedroom.

Marth knocked lightly on the door, and was answered with a small "Come in" from the inside. They entered to find Peach sitting on her bed brushing her long gold hair.

Peach smiled as the three of them approached. "Well hello boys. What do you need?"

"Well," Marth began, "we were wondering if you knew anything at all about how Mario had died."

Peach's mood suddenly dropped, as she frowned and placed the brush down next to her on the bed.

"I'm afraid I don't know anything about how he was murdered. Though, before the day Mario was murdered.. he was acting strangely."

The three looked at Peach with questioning looks, asking her to continue.

"He was acting rather paranoid, and was extremely jumpy. It was unlike him. He seemed sad as well, and... he just wasn't the same. It's like something had happened to him. I tried asking him, but he would just assure me everything was fine and smile, even though I knew that he had forced the smile. I was forced to drop the subject when I figured he wasn't going to tell me no matter how hard I tried." Peach sighed. "I tried asking Luigi as well, though he didn't know anything about it. Luigi was spending most of the time in his room, probably inventing some new gadget like he always does. I only saw him around breakfast, lunch, dinner, but even then he didn't talk much. I'm not exactly sure why, but you could try asking him about it."

When Peach finished, the three thought about the new information they had just received. They thanked Peach for talking with them, and left her room, their new destination being Luigi's room which was at the very end of the hallway.

"Alright, so here's what we know so far. Mario is supposedly the killer. Peach said he was acting weird the day before he was killed, and Luigi was working on a new project." Roy went over the information, and the other two just nodded their heads.

"Right." Link and Marth both said in unison.

"Let's head for Luigi's room now. I have a feeling he may know something." Marth said, and soon they were on their way down the hallway towards Luigi's room.

It didn't take them long to arrive, since they were pretty close to his room already when they visited Peach. Marth knocked on the wooden door, but there was no response from the other side. He hesitantly turned the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped inside the room with the others following close behind.

"Hey, Luigi, you in here?" Marth called, but yet again got no response. Sighing, he looked around the room and took in the surroundings.

The room was small, but was fit for Luigi. Various gadgets and gizmos was strewn across the floor, tables, and a few tools were hanging on the walls. Various notes were on the table just next to the light blue bed. Someone had recently been in the room, as the curtains on the window were pulled away, allowing light to come into the room. Link strode over and inspected one of the bookcases against the left wall.

"Geez man, look at all these books.. I don't even understand most of the titles on these things!" The hylian sighed as he pulled out one of the books and flipped through the pages, obviously stumped by the big words within it. Not wanting to feel stupid from attempting to read the book any longer, he placed it back on the bookshelf and examined another book, that was almost exactly the same as the first one.

Sighing again, Link put the second book back on the shelf, and decided to try another one.

"Link, stop trying to read those books, you'll only end up hurting yourself trying to read those." Roy laughed as the elf glared at him and placed the book back on the shelf.

"What are you three doing?" A new voice shocked the three swordsman in the room, as they turned towards the doorway.

Luigi stood in the entrance, holding a toolbox and looking at the three suspiciously.

"Ah! Luigi! There you are. We were looking for you, we need to ask you some questions." Marth smiled, and the plumber entered the room, closing the door behind him and seating himself on the bed.

"Alright. What did you-a want to ask?" Setting his toolbox aside, he gave the swordsman his full attention.

"We were wondering if you knew anything about Mario's death. Did he tell you anything before he died, or was he acting strange at all?" Marth asked, and the green plumber thought it over for a moment.

"Now that I-a think about it, yes, he-a did seem strange. Jumpy, paranoid, and sad. I-a didn't get to-a talk to him much though, as I-a was working on a new project just before he died."

"Can I ask what that project was?"

Luigi coughed, and shook his head. "I'm-a still not done with it yet. I would-a prefer to not say until I finish it." He smiled, and Marth gave him a suspicious look.

"..Alright. Well thank you for your time Luigi." Marth quickly ushered the other two out of Luigi's room and down the hallway towards the lounge.

"Woah, woah! What's the rush? And slow down! I'm still using crutches, y'know?" Roy grumbled, and Marth uttered an apology. Link remained silent, obviously still trying to understand the words in the books he had read in Luigi's room.

"I found these." Marth pulled out a stack of post-it notes from his pocket. They were in Luigi's room, the same size and color as the ones the killer uses.

"Seriously?!" Link snapped out of his daze and stared at the notes.

"Yes, but I can't be sure it's Luigi just yet. I mean, anyone could have post-it notes. These alone aren't enough proof." Marth added.

"Yeah, guess you're right. But still, he did seem a bit suspicious, not telling us hardly anything at all, other than things we already knew." Roy said.

"You have a point there, but-"

"MARTH!" A sudden shout from the end of the hall near the lounge interrupted the blue haired swordsman, as he turned to see Samus running towards them, a note in her armored hand.

"Samus? What's wrong?" Samus panted, looking as if she had just ran a long ways in order to reach them, and handed Marth the small note.

He took it, and read it aloud.

"Hee-Hee!

Oh my, my, my! It seems someone can't really deal with the cold well! What a pity!

Only 19 remain, oh dear me, the numbers are decreasing so fast!

Hee-Hee!"

The bottom of the note was cold. It was as if it was frozen, but there was no water or ice.

"Who..?" Marth looked up to Samus, who shook her head.

"Mewtwo was found in the meat locker.. it was too late. By the time he was found, he was already frozen."

"Dangit.." Link smashed one of his fists against the wall, creating a loud _thud_ to resonate down the hall. "We're always too late.. we can never save anyone with this guy on the loose.."

"Ahem." Roy coughed and waved at Link.

"Yeah, well, Marth was just lucky he found you when he did.." Link sighed, and so did Roy.

"Anyways, since you're here now Samus, may I ask you a question?" Marth asked, and Samus looked at the blue haired swordsman.

"Go right ahead."

"Do you know anything about Mario's death?"

Samus thought it over for a moment before answering. "Aside from him acting strange, I do remember finding something when I was cleaning up his room after the murder." Samus rose up her armored arm in front of her, and after hitting a few buttons on it, a small compartment opened on the arm. She reached in and pulled out a small piece of fabric and handed it to Marth.

"What's this?" He asked, examining the fabric. It appeared to be a think material, and was a deep purple color.

"That.. wait a minute!" Roy reached into his pocket and pulled out what look to be a piece of the same material. "That's the same material as the guy I fought wore. It's the fabric his cloak was made out of."

After examining both pieces, they came to the conclusion that they were indeed the same type of fabric, but only with a slight color difference. Between the one Samus handed him, and the one Roy had torn from the attacker's cloak, the one Roy had was slightly lighter than the one Samus had.

"Interesting. Only a slightly difference between the two. This means that there was indeed a killer before Mario.." Marth muttered the last part, not wanting Samus to hear him and start with the questions.

"Do you two mind if I take these? I may be able to analyze them and see if they provide any hints as to who the person behind the murders is." Samus asked, and Marth smiled and haded her the fabric. "Thank you. I'll take them back to my room to analyze them, and let you know what I find out." With a slight nod, she headed down the hallway towards her room.

"This is great, we're getting closer and closer to finding out who the killer is!" Link grinned, and Marth and Roy laughed.

"You're probably the only one who could still be slap happy in a situation like this, elf boy." Roy chuckled, and Link shrugged.

"Better than being sad an depressed, I always say." He gave a goofy smile, making the two laugh.

"Right, right. But you guys do know that now, it is possible that the killer isn't Mario at all. Unless there are two killers.. or the killer is a shapeshifter." Marth suggested and the other two thought it over.

"But.. there's no one here who is actually capable of shapeshifting, right?" Link asked, Marth shook his head.

"No. Mewtwo was the only one who is really capable of phsycic abilities, but now.."

"Yeah. So what now?"

"I think we should do a bit of looking into this 'project' Luigi is working on. He seems a bit suspicious if you ask me." Marth and Link looked at Roy, obviously surprised by his sudden suggestion.

Marth and Link nodded. "It's a good idea. I have a feeling we might find something interesting if we take a look at whatever he's building. But.. where exactly is the thing he's building, anyway?" Link asked. The other two shook their heads. They apparently didn't know either. "'Kay.. well we need to find it first in order to look into this further."

"Hey, guys.. now that I think about it, Luigi was working on something in the garage I think. I found him the night we split up to look around. He was trying to fix the lights, but when I left, he stayed behind. We could try checking the garage first and see what we find?"

"Why didn't you tell us that before?" The pyro smiled sheepishly, and Marth sighed. "Well, whatever. Let's head for the garage then."

"Actually guys. I had better go find Zelda. I left Young Link with her earlier to watch him while I went with you guys.. I know he can be a handful, so I had better go check up on them and see how they're doing." Link smiled at the two, and without waiting for an answer, waved at the two and ran down the hallway to find Zelda.

"Looks like it's just me and you now." Roy sighed, as did Marth. The elf was always leaving them behind and running off to do something.

"So I guess now we just-" Marth blinked when he felt a small tug on his pants leg.

A small yellow mouse looked up at him with teary eyes, obviously upset about Mewtwo's passing. Marth smiled, reached down and picked the small mouse up into his arms.

"Hi there Pichu. Would you like to come with us?" He asked. Pichu nodded and hopped onto his shoulder.

"Looks like you got a buddy, Marth." Roy chuckled and Marth rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get going."

**...**

**A/N: End of chapter 6.**

**This chapter was more of a 'building the plot' type chapter, if you want to call it that. XD Anyways, hope you all enjoyed! Thanks again to all of my readers and reviewers, you guys are great! **

**Don't forget to leave a review! :3 **


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